Play and dance therapy: a review of theories, techniques and didactic methodologies for the motor recovery of children with disabilities

Abstract

Background: This research is aimed at analysing the effectiveness of play activities and dance-therapy programmes in improving the psycho-physical condition and increasing the well-being of individuals with disabilities. Methods: Online search engines (e.g., EBSCOhost, PubMed, the American Journal of Dance) were consulted using parameters such as "physical disabilities" or "dance with music" or "childhood" and excluding protocols published before 2010. Eleven intervention protocols were analysed. These concerned play and dance-therapy courses targeted at disabled subjects under 14 years of age. Results: It was found that at the end of the play sessions, higher muscular activation and improvement of quality of communication exchanges with the family members was found. With regard to the dance-therapy protocols, improvement was reported in general coordination, balance ability and a decrease in maladaptive behaviour in children with disabilities. Conclusions: With the improvement in physical performance, an increase in the subjects' state of well-being is also noted, underlining a strong body-mind connection. For future studies, it is recommended that the number of participants in individual studies should be larger and to include a control group to make the results generalisable on a large scale.